The Teacher
by Doppler Effect
Summary: Before they left their home town, the Elric brothers had gone to school and harassed their teacher for years by doing everything they weren't supposed to be doing. Because of that, she would remember them for a long time.


She tried not to groan as she walked into her classroom. Little Hannah was clinging to her arm, already asking about when they could eat their snacks, and Alexander was on her desk and pretending to teach the class. No one was paying him the slightest bit of attention. Most of the girls were huddled in the corner, talking loudly as they caught up on anything that had happened over the summer, and all but two of the boys were sitting around the last girl, looking at her like she was a goddess as she fixed the wheels on someone's skates. Winry Rockbell, only six but already dreaming of helping her grandmother Pinako as a mechanic, was oblivious to their rapt attention. Even Alexander's antics seemed to be to get her to look his way.

That wasn't what the teacher was distressed about. Away from everyone else in the room, the oldest Elric brother was devouring an alchemy book. She had dealt with him many times before in town but had somehow forgotten that he was finally old enough to start school. Maybe she had blocked it from her memory. He yelled at people for the slightest things, ran into people while chasing his brother, snatched food if no one was watching it (and sometimes if they were), making a general ruckus wherever he went. The devil child needed a sedative, not a teacher.

"Find a seat, please!" she called as she entered the room. "Alexander, that's _mine_. Find your own!" The boy groaned but slid off. Hannah detached herself and skipped away. "Okay, we'll start by introducing ourselves to the class. State your name, age, and something we should know about you. I'll start. My name is Miss Devonshire, I'm twenty-six, and I have two cats at home." The girls cooed. Miss Devonshire looked down at her roster. "Karen." A girl in the back row waved her hands energetically. "Go ahead."

"My name is Karen Cordent and I'm eight and I don't like bugs."

"Brian?"

"My name is…"

"It went on down the list. As usual, things went badly. Before they got to the third person, someone had put a spider on Karen's desk. A student with a stutter informed them he had a stutter, or tried to. Winry couldn't finish her introduction because the boys kept interrupting. And…

"Edward?"

"Edward Elric, six, and I think this is boring."

"Well-" Miss Devonshire started, looking around the room to address him. She paused and frowned. "Where are you?"

"_Don't say I'm too short to be seen even if you had telescope!"_

"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying I don't know where you are!"

"I'm raising my hand!"

Two students pointed at the space between them. Miss Devonshire leaned to one side and blinked as she caught sight of the scowling child with his hand in the air but on the ground.

"What are you doing down there?"

"You said 'Find a seat'!" He pointed at the one beside him. "You didn't say anything about sitting in it!"

"Ed!" Winry exclaimed. All the boys gaped. They knew each other? "Don't be stupid!"

"It's not my fault she wasn't specific!"

"She didn't expect you to be a brat!"

"I'm not being a-!"

"Yes, you are!"

The boys cried as they realized Winry was paying more attention to the most obnoxious boy in the class and hadn't even glanced their way. Most of them had gotten into fights with Ed on more than one occasion in the middle of the street. The girls just looked annoyed at the interruption the boy was causing.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

Winry threw a book at him. "Don't be a smart aleck!"

"Winry, don't throw things!" Miss Devonshire gasped, surprised at the girl's violent action.

"I'm just _saying_-"

"Edward, I will tell your mother."

"Whatever."

"Just get in a seat."

"Make me!"

To Miss Devonshire's horror, Winry actually stood up and started approaching the misbehaving child. Thankfully, he scrambled up, shoved the nearest child off their chair, and sat down it. So, only somewhat thankfully.

"Apologize!" Winry yelled as the poor student started crying.

"Why? He's fine."

"His elbow is bleeding!" a girl said, pointing at the boy on the floor.

The entire classroom dissolved from there. Miss Devonshire put her head in her hands and groaned. Edward had turned the quietest and politest child in the classroom into a yelling, violent maniac. Incredible.

* * *

A year later, and Alphonse Elric, too, was old enough for school.

He was a sweet child, thoughtful and always smiling. No matter what, he would go out of his way to make others smile and laugh. Many said he possessed all the traits his brother lacked. Sensibility, honesty, kindness, humility, and politeness. It seemed to be a no-brainer that Alphonse would not be riled up by Edward or would, possibly but most likely not, even soothe his temper a bit in class.

The first day was fine. Miss Devonshire did her best to smile and be polite towards Alphonse despite any loud mouthing by his brother. She had gotten used to Winry exploding at Edward but didn't want to have three of them yelling at each other. Alphonse had been his usual smiling and cheerful self, entirely oblivious to the reasons behind her actions. He had seemed rather tired, however, and a little unfocused.

Two weeks in, and Miss Devonshire realized she had an entirely different problem.

"Edward! Alphonse!" she said, slamming her grammar book on her desk. "Pay attention!"

"We are!" they chorused, holding up their books. She saw the green cover of their grammar books looking back at her. The gesture was a little too eager to show her they were reading.

"Turn the books around," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"W-what?" Alphonse stuttered while his brother planted his head on his desk with a depressed moan.

"You heard me!" Alphonse just held up the book that had been behind the grammar book. Miss Devonshire rubbed her forehead. "Okay, give me the chemistry books."

"But-!"

"_Now_!"

Yes, her two troublemaker students were more interested in alchemy and science than grammar. It didn't help that they would have been in advanced studies if their parents had enough money and they had lived in Central.

"But we're learning so much on our own!" Edward exclaimed, raising his head and throwing his hands into the air. "You should be encouraging us instead!"

"I'm also teaching you respect and manners!"

"Pfft, when are we going to need _those_?"

Alphonse paused. "Well, Ed, I think you _could_ use some help with those two things."

Winry, sitting two rows behind them, nodded without looking up from her book. She, too, was incredibly interested in the grammar lesson. Miss Devonshire glanced down behind her desk at a stack of mechanical, anatomical, alchemical, and scientific books she had confiscated from the three. There were serious problems with the image and she couldn't lay her finger for sure on what exactly they were.

"Do I need to give you two detentions again?" she threatened.

They piped up immediately. "Yes, yes, please!"

"Last time was so much fun!"

"I got all the numbers of valence electrons for the elements memorized and-"

"I finished this book on Thompson's theory of-"

* * *

That was what life was like with the two brothers in her class for the next few years. After a point, she started ignoring them and letting them do what they wanted to do. Winry at least put up the pretense of caring about school and wasn't hard to deal with. Edward was loud about his dislike, and while he usually stayed out of it, Alphonse would occasionally join in with complaining. Miss Devonshire had many a moment when she wondered how things could have been different if the boys were sent off to a military academy or something.

She had the children who first started school all the way to the ones who were twelve years old. Mrs. Hayes next door had the rest. She didn't have as many because students began dropping out when they were needed to work, leave for trade school or an apprenticeship, or the rare occasion when a boy got a girl pregnant and they had to drop out to deal with the ensuing mess.

Disaster struck twice before the three children could move rooms.

The first incident was when they were in Winry and Edward were in their second year of school and Alphonse was in his first. Winry's parents left to go help in the Ishvalan War as medics. They didn't come back. Winry was absent from school and the Elrics skipped a few times to comfort their friend. All of the missing assignments were excused by Miss Devonshire, not wanting to put extra stress on the poor kids. They finally returned to a steady attendance.

That is, until Mrs. Elric became ill.

The boys would leave early and arrive late, staying by their mother's side as she fought to stay alive. One day, they didn't come and word traveled that the kind mother had passed away. The second disaster had occurred. The boys and Winry were again absent, but only for three days this time. After the funeral, to Miss Devonshire's surprise, they were all back.

And, even more incredible, nothing seemed to have changed.

The boys were only a little quieter before going right back to their obnoxious ways. They still brought other books to class and focused on them more, but seemed to be more driven. Winry seemed just as surprised but didn't mind, happy that they were alright. Miss Devonshire assumed they just wanted to continue their mother's memory by not acting mournful for very long. Whatever the case, the boys appeared to be just fine.

Their personal studies seemed to be going well, even if anything they didn't care for in school seemed to be laughed at and ignored. Winry started spending more time at her grandmother's, quickly becoming an automail expert. The boys in the class still drooled while she talked, but, as Edward joked once, Miss Devonshire wasn't sure if it was because they had a crush on her or because they had fallen asleep to her talking about gears and different types of metals she used. Even if they learned nothing from school, Miss Devonshire had no doubt the three would be able to handle themselves when they got older.

The river flooded in 1908, when Edward and Winry were nine and Alphonse was eight. An alchemist woman with the strangest temperament Miss Devonshire had ever seen appeared, protecting the town from damage and keeping its people safe. Minutes after doing so, she seemed to fall ill, although her husband assured everyone she was alright. The boys, to absolutely _no one's_ surprise, acted like annoyingly little puppy dogs getting into everyone's business when they weren't wanted and demanded to be taken on as apprentices before the alchemist woman was even fully awake. To the satisfaction of the entire town, they were both smacked upside the head in an attempt to subdue them.

Their pressure didn't let up and they were actually taken on as apprentices. The brothers left with her, not to be seen again for seven months. When they returned, it was with excitement rolling off them in waves and grins plastered across their faces. While the boys had been energetic and strong-willed before, they now had confidence and surety laced into each bouncing step they took. The change was hard not to notice and was a source of much conversation as people wondered how exactly they had been taught. Any hope of the children being more polite after more than a half a year in the scary lady's presence was quickly dashed when the boys revealed themselves to be almost exactly the same as before.

The boys returned to school in 1909, but it was only a false hope that everything was alright with them. A year and a half later, they and Winry did not appear at school for several days straight. There was no sign of them at all for months, not until Winry came to the school building to quietly inform Miss Devonshire that none of them would be returning. She had a haunted look in her eyes as she said she was going to start helping Pinako as an automail mechanic.

Not a thing was known about what had happened to the Elrics, although someone whispered that they saw two military officers visit the home. Winry and Pinako were tight-lipped, saying they were both just ill.

No one believed it. The boys were never sick.

A fire broke out and the Elric house burned down. A passerby had seen it and then run home to tell his wife. Action wasn't taken fast enough to save the house. Pinako assured everyone the next day that no one had been inside because they boys had been at her house the entire time they were ill. Rumors started about what had started the flames, but no one knew for sure.

Afterwards, word spread – again, from Pinako. Wasn't it odd that that was where all the information came from? – that the Elrics had left town.

* * *

"What the shit?" Miss Devonshire exclaimed in the middle of quiet reading time. Thirteen pairs of eyes snapped up to look at her in shock. She clapped a hand over her mouth immediately but glanced back down at the newspaper. "I'm sorry," she said, removing her hand and standing. "Stay here and please be quiet. I'll be right back."

It took all her willpower not to sprint into Mrs. Hayes's room. She pulled the other teacher out of class, which wasn't too hard since the other teacher had heard her exclamation through the thin walls and had already been on her way to see what was the matter. They moved away from the doors so the children couldn't overhear them. Miss Devonshire pulled out the newspaper and started reading in a whisper.

" 'A new soldier has joined the ranks of the state alchemists. The youngest ever, Edward Elric (age 12), has completed every necessary course with flying colors. Named the Fullmetal Alchemist, the teenager is highly capable and has a specialized knowledge of metals and it is rumored he can transmute without needing an array. His name, however, comes from his two metal limbs: His right arm and left leg. Beside him the entire time, his brother, Alphonse Elric (age 11), is just as talked about as his brother because of his tendency to wear a suit of armor. Despite his imposing image, he is rather soft spoken and calm, in a drastic comparison to his older brother's brashness and rudeness…' "

She stopped and looked at Mrs. Hayes, who was gaping. "Did I miss something all these years?" she said. "Like, _everything_?"

Mrs. Hayes closed her mouth. "Let's go talk to Pinako. Maybe she'll know what's going on."

* * *

They weren't surprised at Pinako's vague answers that day, nor at Winry's abrupt disappearance from their house. With what little they got, though, they learned that it had been a horrible experience for all involved. That much was written all over Pinako's face.

They kept up to date on the adventures of the boy. It wasn't hard. Edward hadn't changed, getting into everyone's business and causing chaos. Alphonse was usually described as running after his brother and trying to stop the mess from spreading. The two quickly went from teenagers in over their heads to heroes as they went out of their way to help people. Risembool watched in awe as two children it had raised walked the country from tip to tip, saving and protecting. They became local heroes. Anyone who stopped in town was immediately and proudly told that it was the home of the Elric brothers. More than few reporters swung by and the townspeople did their best to keep the stories they told accurate.

No one tried to contact them except the teachers, and even they sent nothing of their own. Some of their children, however, wanted to send handmade cards to the alchemists who had grown up in their town. Mrs. Hayes and Miss Bedfordshire would take a large bundle of all the letters and cards to Pinako's and she and Winry would promise to get it to them as soon as they could. To the rest of the town, they simply waited for the boys to return. They could tell them all about what was going on.

After a few years, things suddenly became much more serious.

A serial killer.

A murder of a general.

And that was only the beginning.

Newspapers from Central brought steadily grimmer tales of things going on in the rest of the country. Horrible stories, and flashes of news about alchemists. At one point, they had the guts to flaunt themselves in public _while said serial killer was after them_. Other incidents led to stranger and stranger tales, until, to their horror, the two disappeared. What was going on? Where were they?

A revolt that overthrew the Fuhrer.

A mass extinction of the entire country and then a mass revival.

And then it was over.

* * *

Miss Devonshire had been teaching for thirty years when a ghost entered her room.

At fifty-four, she didn't really think she was at the age to be seeing ghosts and going senile. Yet into her classroom ran a little boy with tousled blond hair, tripping over his shoes and having to stop to retrieve a book that had fallen from his overflowing arms. His excitement wasn't from finally entering school. She knew that immediately, and it was only confirmed when he hurried over to a corner, plopped himself down, and started reading an alchemy book. He had clearly had to interrupt his reading to get into the class.

Realizing her breath had caught in her throat, she forced herself to start breathing again. The child had the exact likeness of Edward Elric, although the blue eyes were a startling distinction to Edward's golden ones. She recovered from her fright and checked the roster. The first name was unfamiliar, but the family name was seared into her mind. Elric.

She ignored the general chaos caused by the children around her. Elric? Hadn't both brothers died? There had been no sign of them in the papers, not even a mention of them assisting with Central's reconstruction. It seemed like that would have been the normal time for them to appear, being alchemists of the people more than alchemists of the state. They would have always done everything they could do to help. Besides, there had been a small article in a paper from a soldier's eyewitness report about being one of the medical response officers mentioning that Alphonse's suit of armor had been empty of life on the battlefield.

Maybe he was a nephew? Or a much younger cousin? Maybe their father had had a sibling in the area, but if so, how had she never heard of him or her? If they had moved here, it would have caused quite a stir. Who was the child to carry that family name?

He was definitely related to the Elrics Miss Devonshire had known, because it wasn't thirty minutes into the class when there was a large explosion from the back of the classroom. Most of the children screamed and covered their ears. A dark cloud obscured Miss Devonshire's eyes for a moment and she had to cough to clear her lungs several times before she could speak again.

"Is everyone alright?" she tried to yell over the commotion. "Please, children, settle down! _Quiet!_" She waited until it was silent before speaking again. "Reach forward and grab the shoulder of the person in front of you. Without letting go, stand up on the right side of your desk. I'm opening the door. The closest row will go out first, followed by the middle row, and then the last one. Okay?"

The children filed out, holding onto each other and speaking in hushed whispers. Miss Devonshire counted their heads, making sure everyone was with the group. She frowned when she came up one child short. Without pausing to reason it out, she said the one name that came to mind.

"Edward Elric, where are you?" She clamped her mouth closed for a moment, mentally face-palming. "I mean, Urey!"

"Back here!" She stumbled towards him, futilely trying to fan dust away from her face. "I'm okay!"

"What happened?" Because any self-respecting relative of Edward and Alphonse Elric _must_ have been involved in this.

She came to a stop by his desk and bent closer to see the child. The source was definitely from around here judging by how thick the dust was. Urey's blond hair was easy to make out despite the dirt that was now coating it. He was also wearing a happy grin. He extended his hands, gesturing at something in front of him. Miss Devonshire squinted, trying to see what the odd shape was.

"I made a bowl!"

"Huh?" She blinked, looking closer. After a moment, she realized that was in fact what she was seeing. The bowl was oddly shaped, fanning out beneath it, almost like it was cemented to the desk beneath it. The entire thing was wood, and Miss Devonshire could clearly see the different grains making it up. "Oh… Wow," she said softly. "You made that?"

"Yep!" Urey said, grinning. Miss Devonshire kept staring. Had Edward and Alphonse been able to do something like that when they were this young and had she just not noticed? "I would give it to you but I can't get it unattached from the desk."

Her amazement quickly turned into irritation. "You turned the desk into a bowl?!" No wonder it looked like the bowl was connected to it.

"Just the top!"

**[Twenty minutes later]**

All of the children had been sent home with the exception of Urey Elric while the dust cleared and the classroom was cleaned. A new desk was going to have to be bought, since Miss Devonshire couldn't see any other way of getting it back to its original shape. Now, she was waiting for the parents to show up. A message had been sent to them, courtesy of one of Miss Hayes's students. They would be on the way soon.

"But it was alchemy!" Urey groaned. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is it's destruction of school property!"

"But the school's so poor, it's not even really _property_!"

"That's because we're poor, as you so kindly pointed out!"

"Oh, you're welcome."

"That was sarcasm."

"That was what?"

"Never mind," Miss Devonshrie said with a sigh. She tilted her head to the side, listening as she heard voices coming closer. The parents, most likely. Finally, she could learn just where the Elric name came from, even if it had nothing in relevance with the more important problem at hand. Urey stood up on his chair as he, too, heard the voices and recognized them. A wide grin split his face. A child who was _excited_ to see his parents when he was in trouble with the teacher? The Elrics had weird genes. But then, she had already known that.

The door opened and two figures stepped in. One was tall with messy blond hair, blue eyes, and a gangly figure. He moved oddly, as if with an old injury in one or both of his legs, and he had a cigarette in his mouth. Beside him was a much smaller woman with a beauty mark on her cheek and long black hair swept up behind her head in a bun. She moved faster than the man but was obviously aware of whatever was debilitating him. The pair had many differences in appearance but both had a look of amusement to them and a hidden weariness. Miss Devonshire supposed she could think Urey was related…distantly…to them…if she squinted hard and had three glasses of ale beforehand.

"Mr. and Mrs. Elric?" she said tentatively.

They both laughed. "No," the man said through his chuckles. "I'm Jean Havoc and this is Maria Brosch. Denny would kill me if I stole his bride from him." Maria hit him and he laughed again. Urey was laughing his merry little head off already. "Urey, you've made such a mess! I'm just wondering why it wasn't any bigger."

"Hey!"

"Oh, cool, alchemy."

Did the man have a mental problem?

"Um, excuse me," Miss Devonshire said, "but why aren't his parents here?"

Maria Brosch took over while her associate and Urey talked about the alchemy process Urey had used to make the bowl. "Sorry. Winry-"

"Rockbell? Winry Rockbell?" Miss Devonshire couldn't help but interrupt.

Maria blinked. "You know her?"

"I taught her when she was young," the teacher said, still surprised. "I'd heard she'd come back but I hadn't realized she had gotten married."

"Yeah, to Edward Elric."

She gaped.

"I totally called it years ago," Jean Havoc said, extremely smug. "Did you teach him, too?"

"And Alphonse," she said weakly.

They both winced. "Oh," Maria said. "I'm so sorry. I hope not at the same time."

Miss Devonshire's surprise faded into annoyance. "Yes. For several years. With Winry. And they would collaborate and cause trouble together unless I separated them, in which case they would yell across the room at each other."

Jean snorted. "I would say I pity you, but I had to deal with their messes while they were running across the entire country with large amounts of the government's money to fling out, endless stories of deniability to shamelessly use, and a horrible tendency to get involved in any and every problem."

"You worked with them?"

"I worked _for_ them for a while," Maria said. "Jean works with Mustang, who worked with Ed and Al."

"Made my day so much more interesting."

A part of Miss Devonshire's brain died. "Um…You worked for them?"

"Yeah, that was weird."

"And he worked for Mustang?"

They both snorted. "Well, on paper. In reality, it was much more of the brothers running off haphazardly and Mustang having to deal with all their messes."

"Was this Mustang related to the one…um, currently running the country?"

"No, same guy."

Miss Devonshire grimaced and rubbed her forehead. "My head hurts. I hope this is the last Elric I ever teach or I'll need an early retirement."

"He has a younger sister named Trisha," Jean said cheerfully. "Anyway, Winry is out of town visiting her old teacher in Rush Valley, Ed is locked in heated debate with Mustang and we couldn't even get them to acknowledge our existence long enough to insert a message from you, and Alphonse – who would have logically come here in their place – is helping Pinako rebuild the kitchen the fast way after an experiment of Ed's and Al's that went badly wrong."

"I _could_ just go home," Urey muttered.

"Oh, so much like his father," Jean cooed.

Marie rolled her eyes. "We're stalling until Pinako can finally break up the bickering pair and send Ed down here. What do you want us to do?"

Miss Devonshire sighed. "Just take him home. But if something else happens and Edward is not able to leave home, he should be warned of me."

"As good little messengers, we'll let him know," Marie said dryly as Urey happily hopped off his chair. "I'll tell Alphonse to stop by and he can fix the desk for you."

"One less thing I need to worry about."

* * *

Noon came the next day at Pinako's house with a knocking at the door. The elderly woman opened the door and blinked in surprise when she saw Miss Devonshire. Then she saw Urey behind her and just rolled her eyes. "Come in. Is Miss Hayes watching the kids?"

"Yes," Miss Devonshire said shortly.

Pinako let out a sound that was suspiciously similar to a cackle. "Finally! Ed's getting a taste of what he gave Trisha two decades ago." She led Miss Devonshire through the house. As they walked, the teacher heard an argument coming from one of the rooms they were approaching between someone whose voice she didn't recognize and someone else who was very familiar. If she hadn't been expecting to hear his voice, it would have been a lot harder to place the child's argumentative tone with this much older and haughtier tone.

They turned a corner into the newly refurbished kitchen. Miss Devonshire took a moment to look around. There were several ridges along one corner that were similar to what had been covering yesterday's bowl and desk and today's goose and wall, but that was the only sign of alchemy she could see. A man with long blond hair pulled into a pony tail had his back to her and was eating a sandwich. He had apparently just finished making it and was still cleaning up with one hand while he continued arguing with someone in the dining room, who she could just see through the far side through an open doorway.

"I'm telling you," Edward snapped, "use the money on the towns down south, _not_ up in the north!"

"That's _great_ in theory-" the other person started.

"I know there's a drought all across the country, but the people up north aren't as bad off. They'll need it later, sure, but not now."

"Ed, that money can also be used to build a dam that'll control the water flow so it doesn't cover the flood plains after the snow melts and then have no water left in the summer when it's needed. You're right, that's down the road and doesn't help right now, but it could save more lives."

"Then build it when the immediate threat is past!"

"It'll be autumn and there won't be enough time to build the dam before the snow and ice set in. Then it'll flood and wash away all the work. They have to do it while the water levels are low. And hey, is that a sandwich you made?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you make me one?"

"No."

Miss Devonshire took a deep breath, brushed aside her hesitations, and stepped forward, dragging Urey with her. Edward turned his head, hearing the footsteps. He had certainly aged well, a small part of her thought. The rest just recognized him as _the enemy_.

She lifted Urey and planted him in Edward's arms for effect. He scrambled for a moment to juggle the sandwich and child. "Oh, Miss Devonshire! You're still- mmph," he shoved the sandwich in his mouth to make it easier, "awibe?" His surprised look and stuffed face would have been hilarious in any other situation.

"Of course I'm still alive!" she said crossly. "I don't irritate everyone I meet!"

Edward shrugged, unable to really respond to that.

"I'm not the topic here!" she exclaimed. "I have had just enough of your family, Elric! Every time one of you enters my room, something is destroyed or someone gets hurt or I get a letter from someone's parents or-or-" She huffed. "I am not dealing with a reincarnation of you and your brother again!"

"You hear that, Ed?" Miss Devonshire glanced at the dining room. From this angle, she could finally see the man Ed was arguing with. He was lounging on one of the chairs with his arms folded behind his head. His spiky black hair was stylistically unkempt and his military jacket was lying draped on the chair beside him. "_Your_ family. No mention of Winry's side."

Edward had turned to look at the man. The image of him holding his child with a sandwich in his mouth had been extremely amusing but the transformation from that to his annoyed expression was even more so.

"Oh, don't even get me started on Winry!" Miss Devonshire exclaimed. "Perfectly good angel and within five minutes of the first day, he turned her into a perfectly good devil."

The man at the dining table started laughing while Edward rolled his eyes. He set down the squirming Urey but planted his hand on the boy's shoulder to stop him from running off. He took the sandwich out of his mouth with his other hand.

Before he could get a word out, Miss Devonshire dove into her speech, lecturing Urey and he alike about respect for classroom property, authority figures, and other students. She paid no heed to their identically bored, exasperated, and dumbfounded expressions, as if confused that she would even bother to lecture them. (Except the occasional remark of she made of "Don't give me that look!") She also ignored the steadily growing crowd in the dining room who were laughing themselves to tears. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jean Havoc and Marie Brosch reappear as well as a small man with glasses, a heavy-set man with red hair, a tall and thin man with salt and pepper hair, a blond and somewhat average-looking man, and a serious woman with long blonde hair. Didn't they have something better to be doing?

She finished, glaring at Edward and waited for him to say something.

"Um, okay?"

"Twenty years and you've learned _nothing_," she moaned. Miss Devonshire reached forward with one hand, grabbed Urey's arm, and started pulling him out of the house.

"We have to go _back_?" Urey complained.

"Yes!"

As they left, she heard the strangest thing. The people in the dining room were calling things after her in the friendliest of tones.

"Feel free to come back anytime!"

"Stop by again!"

"Do return!"

Weird people.

"Urey?" she asked when they were away from the house. "Who were those people?"

"Oh," he said offhandedly. "Roy and Riza and Denny and Maria and-"

"Wait, Roy _Mustang_?"

"Yeah."

Miss Devonshire took a deep breath.

To her word, she went into retirement and didn't return for the next school year.

* * *

a/n: I wasn't going to mention the son's name because I didn't know want to call him, but it was needed when Miss Devonshire said, "Edward Elric! I mean, *son's name*!" I thought about it being Maes, but that didn't seem right. I mean, imagine what anyone who knew Hughes would have thought when they saw the child. And to be remembered of someone who died so bravely _every time_ you were spoon feeding or potty training him would be…odd. And calling him Hohenheim? Winry: "Let's name him after your father." Edward: "Hell no!" Winry: "Why not?" Edward: "'Cause I hated him for a long time and it's an old man's name! Let's name him after your father." Which was Urey. I imagine that when their daughter came along, they called her Trisha so both families were represented.

The dates of everything were not all entirely confirmed. Trisha Elric died when Edward was five and when Alphonse was four. The rest of the dates were similarly stated by wiki pages. The only one not confirmed was the date of the deaths of Winry's parents. The Ishvalan war lasted seven years, so it's not really easy to say when it happened. They were neighbors of the Elrics before that, though. I know the brothers spent seven months at Izumi's because they trained with her for six months and they spent another one on the island.

I got this idea from a scene at some point where there was a short flashback picture of Edward and Alphonse's teacher from school throwing a book or something at them. I meant to write this for a year and just now got around to writing it when I had no computer, meaning it was written on the back of old mathematics notes and a napkin. Fun.


End file.
